The Past I Live In and a Future I Lived In

Re:Beginning: A Job-Filled Reincarnation

Crimster

Chapter 7: Re:Beginning: A Job-Filled Reincarnation | Chapter Seven: The Past I Live In and a Future I Lived In

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Re:Beginning: A Job-Filled Reincarnation | Chapter Seven: The Past I Live In and a Future I Lived In

"Nice job, Sylphiette!" I cheered the girl before me as she formed a slash of wind that whistled through the air. Naturally, she was as skilled in magic as I remembered her being.

It's been a few months since I met the girl. The temperature has dipped to the point where the villagers are no longer working in the fields, which means Roxy started to teach Sylphiette in earnest because she no longer needed to help with the crops. Not that she was ever forced to help them in the first place.

I, more often than not, accompanied Roxy whenever she would tutor the girl. This allows her to teach both of us simultaneously. Unfortunately, that means her attention is split between the two of us instead of wholeheartedly focusing on either Sylphie or me. Of course, some things can't be fixed quickly, considering we're both in very different positions in our curriculum.

Today, it's just the two of us on the hill we usually play on. Roxy returned to our house to prepare everything for my graduation—that reminds me, I'm also graduating from Roxy's lessons today. She said, "You're ready," and left it at that. That succinct part of her never changed.

"Rudy! Just call me Sylphie." The girl gave me a pout as she ran back to the tree I was sitting underneath. I had the magic textbook on my lap—of course, I hadn't read it in this life, considering I already knew the spells and could do them without the incantations, but it was better to save face infront of Roxy if I did it this way.

"Sorry, Sylphie." I rubbed my head. Unfortunately for me, Sylphiette had grown gradually closer in the past few months, but I guess there wasn't much I could do there, considering I was her only friend. I made a small fire in my palms. Even though both of us were wearing coats, it was still decently chilly.

Unfortunately, it wasn't cold enough to snow yet. I grew to love the fluffy white landscapes of Sharia in the decades I lived there. "You shouldn't feel sorry, Rudy." Sylphie sat beside me and gave a cute grin as she stretched her hands out to be warmed by the small fire. "What magic should we try next?" She leaned over to look at the book in my lap. She still had a hard time reading, but she was learning diligently, so for now, I would read her the incantations from the book so she could repeat them, and then she would do them without the incantation.

I couldn't tell if it was because Roxy and I were teaching the girl conjointly, but I could tell she was learning much faster than when I taught her by myself in the last timeline. I guess that only shows how good of a teacher Roxy was. Of course, I had gotten better at teaching since that time, but that was beside the point. Roxy was the best, after all.

Sylphie was also making steady progress in her math skills, so everything was going well for her so far. Her magic skills slowed when she hit intermediate spells, but she was still a beginner, so her progress thus far could be considered exceptional. "Do you wanna try some melded magic?" I added water above the fire from where it was held in my hands, causing steam to rise.

Sylphiette glowed in delight at seeing it. "That's what you did to dry my hair when we met, right?!" Looking at her, I remembered how delighted she was to learn magic from me in my previous life. No matter what, it was almost like she was drawn to the subject like a moth to a flame.

"Precisely, but there are many more melded spells than just this one."

She nodded, then opened her mouth after thinking for a second. "Rudy, why can you cast magic so easily?" That's an excellent question, my dear pupil.

"I don't have perfect control—yet, at least." She didn't seem pleased with that answer when I looked back at her to see her face disgruntled. "I work on it by making figurines from earth magic." She looked at me puzzledly, so I dug some dirt from the ground next to me and quickly morphed it into a crude stone figurine of her. It wasn't up to snuff for what I would usually consider a completed piece, but it was pretty impressive for how fast I made it.

Her eyes went wide in astonishment. "That's amazing! How do you do that?!" Sylphie stuck out her hands and, for a moment, conjured a wobbly mass of stone she tried to form, but after a few seconds of nothing, she gave up. "Yep, just as I thought. Rudy is amazing!"

Don't go patting my ego too much, Sylphie.

I handed her the figurine, and Sylphiette seemed to glow from excitement. I already had enough of these on my shelves back at my house. It was odd that my parents never mentioned them, considering there were people there who they'd never seen, but I'm sure they just thought it was just me being a kid. Sándor, Alek, Orsted, Badi, Jino, Doga, Isolte, Nina, and Ariel. I even made figurines of my three goddesses. There were other ways to better my control, but making figures always felt better. For me, it felt right. It was like my way of showing appreciation to the people I knew. The ones that are gone—

"That's beside the point. Right now, I think it's vital for you to increase your total mana. So you should focus on making your magic bigger or smaller so they drain you more than usual." After giving the statue in her hands a few scans, she looked at me with a tilt of her head.

"Why would you want spells to take more mana? Wouldn't that be counterint—counterintuit–"

"Counterintuitive." She gave me a shy thank you. Whenever she had difficulty with a word, I'd help her. She seemed to like how I speak infront of others and often tried to copy my grammar. It must be interesting to a kid like her. To be fair, my literacy rate was very irregular, considering I could read and speak every language, even one that no longer formally existed. That one was thanks to the President. "You'd be correct about not wanting to use too much mana. Good job!" I patted her head, only to realize what I was doing, then quickly brought it back. She sent another pout my way.

It was hard not to praise Sylphie whenever she did something, not that I wouldn't praise her for doing her best. I personally blame her for being a cute kid for the most part, but it was probably due to her reminding me of Lucy when she was young. The genes really are strong in this one.

"Anyways, a mage must conserve their mana; you're correct. After all, magic is usually a mage's first and last line of defense." She nodded; I could see her breath come out in a puff of smoke from the cold air. "The reason I said you should use more mana than necessary is for the simple fact of you growing your total mana pool." She seemed slightly confused by my explanation. I wasn't surprised; I talked to a four-year-old as if she were an academy student and that she'd just get it .

"To put it simply, how many 'Water Balls' were you able to make the first day you used magic?" It would be easier to explain it this way, considering she already grasped basic arithmetic.

"Umm, three? I'm pretty sure—" She scratched her ear as her voice trailed off.

"Do you remember how many you could do the next day?"

"Six, I think—" She answered, and her voice trailed off again, but now, alongside her unsure look, I could tell the gears in her head started running wild.

"As you might guess, you'll drain your magic every day, preferably to exhaustion. From there, you should expect your total mana to be doubled the next day." Saying it like that made it seem simple. After all, I couldn't get my mana back in a single day anymore.

"Wait, seriously?! Couldn't I get like crazy strong if I do that?!" Ten more points for Sylphie. However, the notion of what that entails scares me more and more every day, mainly considering that I've been doing precisely that for the past few years.

I'm pretty sure I already have as much magic as I did in my previous life, so now it's just a matter of seeing how much further I can go with it. Honestly, that only puts even more emphasis on how much mana I had in my last life. Then, I had a scary thought. If I don't get my control down soon, it'll just get worse and worse, and then who knows what might happen if I let a little too much slip. I could probably destroy an entire continent… That thought alone scares me enough to want to crawl into a hole.

"Anyways, Sylphie, do you remember what Master told you about your attraction and opposition schools?" She nodded.

"My wind and water magic are my strong suit and are better than my earth magic, and fire is my weakest, right?" She was awfully bright for being four.

"Good job." I gave her a small pat on the head. No matter how often I tried to stop myself, I couldn't help it. "Because your affinity lies with wind and water. I recommend you try to focus your efforts on fire magic. You can even try my method of control with earth magic if you'd like."

"Why would I work on something I'm bad at?" She was still stuck on beginner-level fire spells, but that didn't mean she could just stop trying to get better. If anything, that should serve as inspiration. Also, from my practice, leaving one school behind isn't good for your total survivability.

"It's important to cover all your bases regarding stuff like this."

"Cover my bases?" Ah, right. A different world and all.

"It means you should try to be a little good at everything you do. If you do that, you should keep improving every day." I had spent enough time being a mage in my day to know the valuable qualities of all types of magic. Especially gravity magic. That stuff is stupidly strong. If I didn't want to get out of bed just yet? I could just lift myself out of it and use a spell to put my clothes on. If I was fighting an enemy who was faster than me? Pin them to the ground and crush them. It was like having a Quaqmire at my beck and call no matter what. There were so many valuable qualities from all sorts of magic that I couldn't even begin to list them all if I tried.

"I'll do my best!" She put her fist infront of her face as if to say I've got this . "Ah, but—Rudy doesn't struggle at anything." She didn't seem upset at the notion but more like she was irked at her talent.

"I don't have any opposition school like you do, and I have attraction schools in water and earth. That's why I find it easy to work with those. You're brilliant, so I have no doubt in my mind that you'll be an amazing mage! Though I think we have our Master to thank for being such a good teacher." I gloated as Sylphie blushed from my compliment and then giggled at the statement about our Master.

"Master is brilliant, after all!" One hundred points for Sylphiette! I'm glad someone else realizes the fantastic qualities of Master Roxy besides me. This Sylphiette is worthy of my friendship!

Just friends, though.

A moment later, I felt a few drops of water reach my face. I looked up, and storm clouds had slowly swallowed the entire area. It appears in all of our talking and boasting about our teacher that clouds had built up around us. Odd, It's raining—not snowing? Well, I didn't have too much time to think about it.

Tucking the magic book underneath my arm, I got up. "Sylphie, let's go back to my house! It's closer!" The girl nodded, and a light pink dusted her cheeks as she chased after me. Going to a boy's house is usually embarrassing for someone her age, isn't it? From what I could remember, there wasn't any stigma like that in this world, so it should be fine.

I ran with Sylphie hot on my tail. The rain was coming down fairly hard for such a late-season storm. We expected snow for a while now, but rain? A wave of deja vu hit me after I thought about the rain. I remember something like this happening the last time I lived in Buena. I can't remember what, but I remember when my senior Fitz took me to that cave in the woods. I think she did that because I mistook her for a boy, no? It was a bitter memory that I gave Sylphie. Though, for some reason, the girl looked fondly at it. Well, I'm not gonna let that happen again.

By the time we made it to my house, we were both thoroughly drenched and freezing. Lilia met us at the doorway with a towel at the ready. "The bath is already ready, Young Master." She looked over to Sylphie. "You've brought a friend, I see. I'll be up with another towel for you, miss." From what I remember, Lilia was always wary of me as a child. I kept my suspicious activities on the down low this time, so she seemed less apprehensive of me. She still seemed to keep her distance, on the other hand. It was probably because I was such an intelligent kid that she only thought I had ulterior motives, but I didn't much mind. She was right to be suspicious of me, but Lilia was practically a mother to me, so I treated her with all the respect I could.

I took the towel from Lilia with a polite bow. "Thank you, Lilia. Sylphie, it's up here." I nodded to the stairway and went up, Sylphie chasing my heels as I did so. The sight that met me as we went up was a blessing.

Plains of pale flesh christened by white fabric—the promised holy land awaits me! Unfortunately, I couldn't allow myself to venerate the holy relic infront of me because it was still attached to my deity.

Roxy stood atop the stairs, seemingly heading back down before we met her halfway. "Oh, Rudy, Sylphie. You're already back?" She had her regular clothes on and staff in hand. Did she not know what the weather was like right now? She looked at me and must've pinpointed what I had been looking at as she shirked further up and gave me a softhearted glare. With an inaudible sorry, our silent conversation ended. Sylphie obviously had absolutely no idea what had happened.

"What do you mean, Roxy? It started raining," Roxy gave me a befuddled expression, but looking at the sole window we had in the hallway beside her, she seemed to notice what was happening.

"Raining? That's odd—thought it would snow…" She had the same thought I did, it seemed. "Well, we'll have to hold your graduation ceremony tomorrow." I looked at her with a questioning gaze as if to ask why we couldn't today. She gave me a small smile. "Some farmers sowed some late seeds, so it wouldn't be good if I just stopped the rain out of nowhere." Ahh, that makes sense. "You two should warm yourselves up—" She looked behind me and sighed. "Sylphie's gonna freeze to death if you don't."

Lo and behold, when I looked around, I saw Sylphie shivering. She must've been waiting for me to stop talking. "Sylphie, you should go in first." I pushed her ahead of me. "Just open the door and give me your clothes before you go in so I can dry them." Without a protest, the young girl walked in the door behind our teacher and closed it.

"You're not going to do anything perverted to little Sylphie, are you?" As much as I most likely would be tempted to if she were older, the little girl behind the door right now was just that. A little girl. One that trusted me, and I didn't want to tarnish that trust.

Besides, I already decided to give her a pleasant childhood, and then I'd be out of her life.

"I wouldn't do that to Sylphie—she's a child." I couldn't tell what facial expression I was making. Maybe one of guilt from my previous life's actions around this time.

"You're a kid too—but is that why it's okay to peep on me and steal my panties, but not her?" Her tone was somewhat agitated and very much accusatory. She had the death glare on right now, and I knew it without even looking.

Shit, she knows?! I couldn't help myself and reacquired the holy relic soon after God appeared. I considered returning it a little while ago, but still, it symbolized my religion, so I needed it for my—sermons… Even if this woman wasn't my original goddess, she was still my goddess. Thus, I needed a relic to—venerate her. "—No comment—"

"Whatever you say." With the interrogation out of the way, Roxy passed me by and returned downstairs, leaving me in my drenched coat and freezing in the hallway. Sylphiette was probably just getting in the tub.

"R-Rudy, here are my clothes." A quiet whisper came from behind the cracked open door, and a small pale arm shot out from behind the doorway, wet clothes in hand.

"I'll dry them for you; just make sure you stay in long enough to avoid a cold." Even through a door, I could tell she nodded as I grabbed the lump of clothing from her. The door closed when her arm disappeared, and I had more baggage to dry. I wasn't one to complain, though.

I don't feel a single shred of attraction for this Sylphiette. I figured it must've been my body's doing. I was a child, but I didn't get horny or anything. Even then, I severely doubt anything that's happened between this girl so far would do anything like that to me. Sylphie reminds me of Lucy when she was really young. She was shy around me whenever I had to leave for work, mainly because she didn't quite know who I was… That's why I don't want what I had last time again. If Lucy's born, she'd be better off with a better father. One that was there for her every step of the way.

It was odd how my body made my brain operate, but nothing was ordinary about a child graduating and becoming a water saint-ranked mage at four. "Y'know, I'm already graduating from your teaching. I wonder how you'd react if you could see me now." I let out in a whisper. Cumulonimbus was a spell I held dearly, even to this day. It was the final spell my teacher taught me when I was young. It was the culmination of both her and my efforts. It was also the most potent spell in my arsenal for years, not that I commonly used it.

It's funny how far I've come with magic in my lifetime. How much time I've dedicated to what I found so mesmerizing when I was young. Strangely, I'll be learning a saint-rank spell tomorrow when I can cast god-rank spells forgotten by time. I mused to myself as I thought back to that day.

>K453<

"Orsted, I have to talk—is now a bad time?" I walked into Orsted's office only to be met face-to-face with Aleksander Ryback, more popularly known as North God Kalman III.

"Yo, Mister Hero." The man infront of me gave off a tempered air as he stared at me with the same fiery eyes he always had. He still wore the same armor when we had fought in Beihiril, but his overbearing attitude was replaced with a much more relaxed one.

"Can't you stop calling me that, Alek?" I let out in an annoyed tone. "It's been years since all of that." Truthfully, I've been trying to pawn off my place on the world powers back to Alek ever since I got it, but all he always says is that he needs to get stronger to get it back or that he needs to understand what being a hero truly means.

"Would you rather have me call you Seventh?" Never mind, I'm this close to punting him in the ocean.

"Alek was just leaving for a job. Come in, Rudeus." Orsted's authoritative voice was what separated us both. He was sitting on his desk, obviously writing a letter to someone, as a thick stack of papers sat on the edge of his desk. With a wave of his hand, Alek left us, the same prominent smile etched onto his lips.

"So what is it you want to speak about?" The man's voice was the same as always—flat but somehow menacing. I walked up to him and stood infront of his desk. He looked at me indifferently, his face stony in that same dead-eyed stare and permanent scowl. I could tell he was pleased to see me. Must be in a good mood today. Which means this would be the best time to ask this.

"Orsted, I've been meaning to ask you something—a favor, if you will?" The man's face didn't change; instead, his hands were brought up to his face as if awaiting my answer.

"Go on. I won't bite—probably." There he goes, trying to crack jokes again.

"Okay then. It would seem I've reached a plateau. As you know, it's been a couple of years since I seriously started training after Lara left the house, and I've been talking to Jino more and more lately, but my magic skill is just—well, kind of—stuck? That's how I'd put it." My life became much less hectic with all my children finally leaving the house. This meant more time to talk to people and equally more time for Eris to visit Nina, which meant more time for Jino to kick my ass in what the man called 'training.'

I'm still trying to figure out how he moves so fast.

"So what? Do you wish to learn god-ranked magic? You know the devastation god-tier magic can have on the caster. Especially if they're a human…" He looked me up and down as if he was stating the obvious. "I think you're plenty outstanding as you are." He waved his hand as if to blow away my question, but I took note of the small praise he gave me.

"Leo and Lara are gone now…" The statement flew out of my mouth, and Orsted gazed back at me. "They won't be back while I'm still alive, but if my getting stronger can help them—help you in any way whatsoever, then I'll do whatever it takes," His face held firm, but I saw a glimmer in his eyes when he looked at me. When it came to me, I think he had a weak spot. I knew he had one for my children whenever they'd ask him to play, but that was ages ago. "And I have the magic armor to compensate for my body's weak constitution."

We stayed there for a while, but Orsted made up his mind in the end. "Haah, so be it." He shut his eyes in a seeming annoyance as he stood up. "Follow me." With a curt reply, I accompanied my boss outside his office and into the main reception area.

When we came out, Faria squeaked a little at the sight of Orsted. It's pretty natural, considering he's not wearing his helmet. "Sorry, I'm borrowing the Boss for a second, Little Elf." For all extensive purposes, Faria had become relatively used to the overwhelming fear that Orsted had exuded, which is not easy to do. I never understood what they felt since I'm immune to it, so I guess I got off easy. It didn't help that Orsted just had a scary face, though.

"In here. I have some books you can take." Orsted pointed to a door, and my head looked up to the room's tag. The Research Room? We opened the door without dallying and found Zanoba casually working on an automaton. He immediately noticed the pressure that entered the room and turned around.

"Oh, Master! What brings you today—Orsted too?" Zanoba had aged. He sported a few grey hairs but was still healthy. Maybe being a Miko helps with that? He was sweating a little, but that was probably because of Orsted's helmetless status.

"I could say the same thing to you, Zanoba." It wasn't every day you'd see him tinkering away in the headquarters. More often than not, he was seen in one of his workshops.

"We're here for the tomes…" The tomes? That was awfully ominous.

"Of course, Orsted!" Leaving the half-finished automaton on the table in the middle of the room, Zanoba pulled out a singular, non-assuming key from his pocket. It had zero decoration or engraving. It was just a regular old key anyone could have on them.

"Why did you give Zanoba a key to god-ranked tomes—also, tomes?" I knew god-ranked spells consisted of entire books from what I had read in the journal from my future self, but to give Zanoba of all people a key? It's not like I didn't trust the man, but he could break it at any reasonable moment.

Well, he did keep his Zaliff gauntlets on most of the day to work on his craft whenever he wished. So, the strength issue has become primarily a non-issue.

"It was a simple decision, really. I gave him a key and told him to only give it to me or you if asked. No one is going to rob Zanoba in this city, either. Especially when both of us are here." He has a point, but keeping these books in the research room isn't the best idea. "If you're worried about the placement of the spells, I have them secured with barriers, and the container itself is made by the Ore God… To put it bluntly, they're as safe as possible—see?" Orsted gestured, and when I looked over, I saw Zanoba on the other side of the room, his arm stretched out, seemingly fazing through a barrier and unlocking a rather large black box.

"I see. So the key must act like a bypass to the barriers and is used to unlock the box—a double-edged sword." It was simple but also incredibly practical. "And the key itself is so unassuming that no one would bother to steal it in the first place—as expected of the President! You're a genius!" I could see him shift slightly in the corner of my eye; I could tell he'd be blushing if he ever showed it.

"Uh, thank you—anyways, just take the books." He gestured over where the box now stood, open for any prying hands to get inside. Thirteen books stood in the stone bookcase. "There are two books for each type of attack magic and one for Barrier, Summoning, Healing, Detoxification, and Divine Strike. Though, I doubt you'll need the last one or be able to cast the healing or detoxification." Each book looked like a dictionary, all of them showing age. However, he didn't need to add that last part.

Would any world government get pissed off at the simple notion of us having these? Millis would be fuming over the Detoxification, Healing, and Barrier, but I had Perugius to teach me the ladder if I ever wanted, so I was okay there, and I always had Cliff to back me up. "I'd recommend you go to The Red Dragon Mountains to use these. It's open and majorly uninhabited. I'm sure you know this already, but god-ranked magic is truly continental in its scale." He gave me a severe stare at the simple notion of continental.

"I swear I'll come back stronger than ever, President!" I bowed at my same old ninety-degree angle. I heard him scoff as he turned away, most likely to return to the previous work I had interrupted.

"I know you will. Then you'll also owe me one when Jino sends Nina to find her husband's drinking buddy." I shivered at the thought of that woman coming to drag me away. The worst part is that I'm optimistic that Eris would help without a second thought. Those two weren't friends for nothing.

"The next time we go drinking, it'll be one me then." With a nod of acknowledgment, Orsted left me and Zanoba alone.

"Well, I guess I better get reading then." I deadpanned at the notion of reading a book the size of a dictionary for a few hours just to cast one spell.

I love my life.

How long has it been since I remembered those times? I was forty-six, five years after Lara left, and when I started training like a madman. Why I decided to do that in my forties is still beyond me.

How are Jino, Doga, Zanoba, and Cliff doing? I hope you're all fine. It was odd how I'd become friends with the former two. I only knew Doga as a friendly and slightly airheaded man, but I remember my first meeting with the then-newly situated Sword God. He was a character, alright, but after Eris insisted on me coming to the Sword Sanctum with her a couple more times, the man started talking to me. Apparently, the reason we sought strength was for similar reasons.

We both wanted to get stronger for our families to protect them. From there on, it was basically smooth sailing. Doga, Jino, and I even drank together a few times every couple of months. It was our version of a guys' night.

Good times those were.

The door by me creaked open, and a quiet voice whispered. "Rudy, are my clothes dry?" The voice was so soft that I could barely even hear it.

I almost forgot where I was for a second. Wait, her clothes? "Ah, yeah. They're good to go." I passed her the now dry clothes. It didn't take me long to dry them; the perks of being able to make magic do whatever you wanted.

"Thank you." Her hand took hold of the bundle of slightly warm cloth in my hands and quickly retreated into the room.

It took her a minute to get dressed, and the door reopened. I would've been eager to bathe with her if she were my wife. Or if she were Christina, she would've forced me into the tub with her. However, she was neither.

"You can go in now, Rudy—you're still wearing your clothes?! Aren't you freezing?!" Her eyes screamed worry.

Oh, right. I forgot to take off my clothes—or even dry them, for that matter. I somehow forgot that I was freezing in the hallway.

"I'm fine, Sylphiette." When her name left my lips, she pouted and, with a few steps to get around me, pushed me into the room with the tub and shut the door behind me. I could hear her footsteps quickly hopping down the stairs. "It looks like I made her mad." Maybe I should apologize? I have been coming off as cold recently, haven't I?

"Nah, it's not like there's much I can do about it." I dryly remarked to myself as I slowly took off my shirt. I didn't intend to get unnecessarily attached to Sylphie in this life.

No matter what, I wouldn't drag her down my path in life… Not this time.

Notes:

Author's Note: With that, we have chapter seven. I don't have much to say about this chapter regarding story progression, but I'm sure I'll have more to discuss in the next chapter. So be on the lookout for that one.

As always, feedback is always greatly appreciated.